aaamusic | On 30, Mar 2011

[cincopa AkCARj6fLyou]

London, 24th March

With Tim Wheeler, Emmy The Great, And So I Watch You From Afar

Thursday night we secured a spot at the JD Set, one of the most interesting and expected events on the music calendar. Historically Jack Daniel’s has always supported music, “from the creation of the Silver Cornet Band in his home of Lynchburg in 1892 to entertain his community and workers music has been inextricably linked with Jack”. And the last Thursday night the first JD Set of 2011 took place in London at XOYO. The main artist of the venue was Tim Wheeler (guitarist, songwriter and vocalist for the rock band Ash), who was joined by a cast of up and coming artists playing songs from all the albums of the Boston indie Godheads Pixies.

The Crookes, whose debut album”Chasing After Ghosts” is out now, opened the gig with their ironic intelligent pop-twists. They played classics songs such as Here Comes Your Man, but it was really nice to see these guys on the stage with clothing and a hairstyle, that I personally think recalls the scene of the 50’s Rockabilly. The gig started beautifully and Tim with the Crookes gave the best on stage. The audience obviously could not help, but enjoy the music. Ma Mentor were next to take the stage with Tim. The first thing that struck me about this second part of the show was the disposition of the drum on the stage. The bass drum was suspended on the right, flanked on the left side by a big Tom and a Snare, which were followed by an hi-hat on the left. A set that seemed more suited to a percussionist than a drummer, but that actually was very cool. Monkey Gone To Heaven and other Pixies’ successes were played before the show moved on to a set of acoustic duets with Emmy The Great. This could be a new name to some, but as a singer and songwriter, “Emma Lee-Moss has been reducing rowdy crowds to an awed silence for some years”. Her first album First Love was released at the beginning of 2009. People loved this moment and they relaxed until the arrival of the high volume and rock dynamics of Belfast’s own And So I Watch You From Afar. This was the perfect choice to conclude the evening. The energy on the stage seems to explode. The drummer took of the shirt and started to push as an animal, while the other musicians continued to squirm and jump. The powerful sound wave that swept the audience reacted vigorously responding to the band. Come On Pilgrim’s and Isla De Encanta closed the night. Driven by heat from the audience, Tim did not hesitate to submit on the stage his fellow Ash band members and special guest, Bloc Party’s Russell Lissack for a further clutch of Pixies classics before a special treat for the assembled Ash fans in the shape of Ash classics ‘Petrol’ and ‘Burn Baby Burn’. An Incredible evening that if you were not lucky enough to see, then you could recover on Thursday April 21^st, when the JD Set London comes to Channel 4. You can also see exclusive video footage of the artists in rehearsal now at www.thejdset.co.uk, more details to follow.

Author & Photos: Francesco Morello